Toyota has actually been in NASCAR for quite a few years. They started
out in trucks and moved up to the Nextel / Sprint / Winton Cup level
last year. And the people building and driving the cars have been in
the business for many years. So I think it is not relevant to call it
a "second year effort."

The "Camry" race cars have zero in common with any Toyota products
(well except they do have wheels and use gasoline). NASCAR is just as
much a pure race car series as Formula 1 or Indy Racing. The only
difference is that NASCAR has tried to freeze technology at the level
of a 1972 Ford Torino. Solid rear axles, front engine, carbureted,
push rods, V8s, 15 inch wheels.......

The Toyota "Sprint Cup" V8 is a purpose built push rod engine
unrelated to anything else Toyota builds (it is even different than
the engine used in the truck series). Toyota had the advantage of
being able to review all the existing NASCAR V8s when they designed
theirs and were able to take advantage of the strengths and avoid the
weakness of the other designs. Except for the engine and the decals on
the front of the car, the rest of the Sprint Cup cars are as identical
as NASCAR can make them. You could literally change the engine and
decals and turn a NASCAR "Camry" into a NASCAR "Impala."

The races at Daytona and Talladega are among the least interesting
NASCAR races. Because speeds are so high at these track, NASCAR
deliberately restricts the power of the engines to hold speeds down.
This further reduces the differences in the cars and makes winning the
race more a matter of luck than skill. I'll have to admit this years
Daytona 500 was more enjoyable than in past years, mainly because the
new style cars seem to be more stable. This allowed drivers to recover
from minor mistakes instead of wrecking and taking out half the
tightly bunched field.

As has been the case for at least 60 years, NASCAR can and will
manipulate the rules to favor one brand or another. NASCAR attempts to
play the manufacturers off against one another to try and keep
everyone playing. It has never been fair, or honest, or even sensible.
It is a lot more like WWE than anyone at NASCAR or Fox or ESPN would
ever admit.

One of the Wood Brothers said it best years ago - "it is not cubic
inches that wins races, it is cubic dollars." Right now, Toyota is
willing to spend more cubic dollars than anyone else.

Ed

On Tue, 19 Feb 2008 02:34:04 GMT, Hachiroku ???? <Trueno@ae86.gts>
wrote:

I believe Toyota led for most of the race.